How do women not give a hoot about their cars? Or do they?
A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Any man will tell you, that’s his car that you’re talking about. His woman though, might have a different view. Bells and whistles figure in her notions
My friend wept copiously when he said goodbye to his car. ‘She was a friend, my ally, my confidante,’ he sobbed, ‘a buddy, we went through life together, great experiences we shared, reliable, always available, we had such great conversations and now she has gone.’ It’s a hunk of metal, I said heartlessly, it has no feelings, get over it, buy another. He has never forgiven me and still remembers ‘her’ with unbridled affection. But that said, cars do play an important, almost vital role in our lives. From being status symbols and underscoring our success to reflecting hidden desires, thwarted ambitions and acts in upstaging others, cars play a major role. The approach to personal transportation is a very gender oriented thing. The male will actually talk to his car, bike, aircraft, boat or truck. You won’t hear women doing that. It is common for men to wish their car with a ‘hi baby’ and actually caress it. Women are far more practical and see vehicles as a convenience albeit of a greater stature than the other but, still not animated. Men actually establish an equation, women do not. Like females might see in it a reflection of someone’s financial worth (even if it is a rental or running on empty) and call a car ‘cool’ or ‘cute’ or ‘niiiice’ which are words a man would seldom use to describe his favourite friend on wheels.
Men will give their car a name and then reduce that name to a nickname. It is not unusual for them to share their problems with their car and ask its opinion. So what do you think, old thing, should I sign that deal or not?
Thousands of men actually apologise to their car when they have to sell it and weep. You probably did that. Women are more likely to walk away.
There have been cases where wives have actually been jealous of the affection bestowed upon the car by their husband.
You will seldom see a woman looking at a car magazine or checking out the horsepower of a vehicle. My wife couldn’t care less about the specs of a vehicle or whether the engine is an 8 cylinder or not. The ‘vrooom’ sound leaves women cold and the odds are, if they were buying a car, they would look at the colour and the fact that it is new. A man will take a second-hand car without the slightest hesitation if it meets his demands but women want new — to them second hand is not a good deal.
One of the clear examples of this affection can be seen in the fact that very seldom will a man allow the gas tank to run dry. Women see filling petrol as a chore, men see it as feeding their baby and never letting her go thirsty. The odds that the bone dry and marooned car on the highway belongs to a lady rather than a guy are twenty-to-one. The same goes for tyre air-pressure. We men see it as doing the right thing by the old girl and chatting with her while ensuring she is in good shape.
A survey done in the UK according to Carhoots magazine indicated that men take better care of their cars than their own health. Car cleaning materials is a $16 billion business globally and three times that of the sale of male grooming items.
A scratch or dent on the car produces massive agony in the male owner. For women, it is more of a ‘oh well, have to tell him, what a nuisance, and it wasn’t my fault.’ They can actually walk away from the incident without any display of emotion. If two women have a fender bender they are likely to chat about it on the side of the road and make friends, even agree to meet again and collectively lament the accident.
Men will declare war for this grievous injury. You hurt my car, look at the scratches, the mudguard is bent and the bonnet is askew, woe is me, are you nuts, don’t you know how to drive! How often have you seen women fighting each other on the shoulder after a bang-up.
Men feel the pain. They take their car to the mechanic because it is making a ‘tkktkkk’ sound — it is as traumatic as going to the hospital. The suspense of waiting those 24 hours till the mechanics tell you what is wrong is actually a stressful situation. This is why even the most powerful men are soft putty in the hands of mechanics and never are they so servile and grovelling as when the mechanic tells them the gasket and filibut in the ruttidin need to be changed and the pads have worn out. Women are more practical. If it has to be done, it has to be done. That, to men, is cold-blooded, and they are just as likely to delay the surgery, not always for financial reasons. Then they will worry endlessly about having let the old girl down and what if she lets me down now and stops, it is my fault, that gasket could blow any second.
Hmmm. A study by AA in the UK indicated that nearly 30 per cent of men confessed they are as happy with their cars as they are with their wives. Weekend holiday morning tinkering with the car, using a soft chamois cloth to shine it is relaxing and actually de-stresses a man. Women fume at his absence. Ever seen a woman clean a car with a hose and enjoy it?